A “Federal Union of Bulgaria and Macedonia”?

An interesting (though overtly pessimistic) article I recently read mentioned that there are rumors circulating about a federal state in the making between Bulgaria and Macedonia.  While it might be possible, and Bulgarians would certainly like the idea, I’m not so sure how much Macedonians would like to be part of such a union.  Macedonians still feel that Bulgarians want Macedonia to be incorporated into a larger Bulgaria.  I’m not certain that there is any mainstream political party (except for Ataka, maybe) who even has this goal.  In fact, Bulgaria unconditionally recognized the existance of Macedonia as a nation a long, long time ago.  And though many people claim that Bulgaria didn’t recognize the Macedonian ethnicity and language, the Bulgarian premier who recognized Macedonia, Philip Dimitrov, has repeatedly said that Bulgaria recognized all aspects of Macedonian independence, such as statehood, ethnicity, and language.

I think it would certainly be an interesting experiment, anyway.  As long as the two countries enter into such a union willingly and for good reason.  Here’s what it says on the article: “It is interesting to note that widespread rumors for an eventual “Federal Union” between FYROM and Bulgaria are beginning to circulate, an event that will have ramifications probably more important and intense than Kosovo independence.”  Not to mention that it might be the only way for Macedonia to get into NATO and the EU in the near future.  That is, if the recent trouble between Russia and Georgia doesn’t force Greece to be more lenient with its northern neighbor.

I personally think it’s in the regions interest if all nations work at building closer ties and develop more economic links.  What would be very interesting is if the idea of a Yugoslavia sees a rebirth, stemming from the creation of such a union.  This time, though, Bulgaria would be included.  I think later on I’ll examine how and why it was a mistake and detrimental for Bulgaria to not join (since after World War II Stalin meant for Bulgaria Yugoslavia until Tito took a more independent course) the old Yugoslavia, both for Bulgaria and Yugoslavia as a whole.

Small update

So I’m in Bulgaria at the moment.  This won’t be a long post, I’m just writing to let anyone who visits this blog know that’s what I’ve been up to.  I’ll be back mid-August, and then I go to Princeton at the beginning of September.

European Union

Right now there are political shock waves going through the country.  The European Union is poised to release a very critical report about the country.  The report is expected to freeze up to 640 million euros of aid to the country this year, bringing the total of frozen aid to 1 billion euro.  The bad part is that many small businesses have already taken out loans to cover their expenses for their projects (the aid was supposed to reimburse them).  On top of that, the President of the country is being accused of collusion with underworld figures by the European Union anti-mafia group (OLAF), mainly having received illegal funding for his electoral campaign. 

But I’m still getting the feeling that the country is moving in the right direction.  Hopefully with external pressure from the EU, the government and judiciary will manage to clean itself up.  Hopefully.

Bulgaria’s image problem

So yesterday I came across an article that really got me mad.  So mad, in fact, that I wrote a letter to the editor (not that I expect it will do anything).  The article is about the East Germans killed while trying to escape the Communist bloc through Bulgaria, who they were, and how their families are trying to gain closure today.  The article highlights what is a growing problem for Bulgaria: its image and reputation abroad.  Recently many high profile European news sources including the BBC have run news stories highlighting the many negative aspects of Bulgaria, including the treatment of Bulgaria’s orphans, as I explored in a previous entry.  Bulgaria needs to actively combat this.  I thought that I would do my part.  Anyway, here’s the link to the article, it’s called The Cold War’s Forgotten Victims: Avenging East Germans Killed in Bulgaria.  Here’s my letter:

Dear Sir,

I understand of the need for closure for the families of the many victims.  However, what I do not understand is the need to constantly paint Bulgaria in such dark colors.  This article goes beyond its stated point, to avenge the East Germans killed in Bulgaria.  This article goes on to make a mockery of all citizens in Bulgaria, of all Bulgarian government institutions.  In fact, this article dehumanizes Bulgarians in a way reminiscent of Cold War propaganda.

Why not instead focus on Bulgarians, such as Rosi, who helped Germans maltreated by the Communist regime?  Or perhaps, we should take a look at why Bulgaria had a Communist regime in the first place; the country was invaded by Soviet soldiers after allying itself with Germany in World War II.  Perhaps we should also mention that Bulgaria saved all of its Jews from the Nazi regime as well.

We live in a different era now.  While there is need for closure, there is no need to stoke flames of hatred against Bulgarians.  And there is certainly no need to revive the Cold War today.  The majority of Bulgarians of today are good people.  Let’s not give them a reason to hate Germans.

Sincerely,

I’m not trying to claim that the deaths of the 18 East Germans at the Bulgarian borders is forgiveable.  However, 18 deaths out of ‘thousands’ of East Germans who tried to flee the Communist bloc seems to point that Bulgaria’s border patrol wasn’t quite as heavy handed as the Spiegel article claims.  Oh yes, the border signs were written in German as well as Bulgarian.  Incidentally, the Editor of the Spiegel that I sent my letter to will be on maternity vacation until January 2nd, 2009.

Anyway, I think Germany should be trying to forge new ties with Bulgaria, much as France is doing right now.  France just signed a strategic partnership agreement with Bulgaria, and Bulgaria is buying two corvettes (naval ships, not Chevys) worth $1.49 billion.

Orphans in Bulgaria

I’m back from vacation! So now commences the search for an activity for the rest of the summer. One thing I’m thinking of doing is going to Bulgaria.

Speaking of Bulgaria, I think I need to write at least one blog post about the orphans in Bulgaria. Recently there have been quite a lot of international media outcries about the plight of the orphans in Bulgaria. The ‘original’ documentary was BBC’s ‘Bulgaria’s abandoned children’. Here it is, but I think all viewers should bear in mind that Bulgaria’s government is actively working to better conditions at orphanages, and many volunteers go to help these ‘abandoned’ (I think this word is way too strong for this case) children.

Recently, a French documentary also came out about the plight of Bulgarian orphans.

Bulgaria’s government, though, is trying to improve the conditions that the children live in:

The support for orphans, living in special homes is going up from BGN 3947 to 5961. The increase would become effective beginning July 1, 2008 and includes all 1461 children living in the specialized homes till they finish 12th grade, but are not older than 20 years of age.

Plus, the dedication of people like Hyeon make me very optimistic about the whole situation:

This summer, I will be going to one of Plovdiv’s orphanages, Rodopski Pansion, that have been significantly reformed since 2007 through a volunteer organization. The fact that it has opened up to receive help from international volunteers to stay with the orphans who have no relatives to stay with during the summer shows the significant extent of the reforms. Although I know that this is an opportunity for me to help these children who are in need of personal attention, I am still troubled by the thought that there are many more orphanages in more rural villages that don’t even have the bare minimum given to the orphans at Rodopski Pansion.

However, still more needs to be done.  I applaud those helping orphans in need, and I wish the best of luck to them.

In support of the teacher’s strike in Bulgaria.

I’m very proud of what’s going on in Bulgaria right now. Right now, the country’s public school teachers have gone on strike demanding a 100% increase in wages. Their wages are measly, 185 euros a month; the lowest wages in the region for teachers. The other demand that the teachers have is that the state should allocate at least 5% of the GDP for education, up from the 1% that the state spends on education each year now.

The teachers have been on strike for two and a half weeks now, rebuffing the government’s claims that it does not have the ability to raise wages or spend so much on education. Politicians, especially the Minister of Education, Daniel Vulchev, claim that the state would be irresponsible to allow such a wage raise, saying that it would cause inflation and burden a government already in financial trouble. Maybe so, but the teachers deserve to live on more than bread and water. It seems like the government really doesn’t care about education.

The results of this negligence are obvious, students in Bulgaria rarely match up to the intellectual levels of past generations. In the university level, professors take bribes to change grades, since they’re salary is roughly half that of a professional bus driver in Bulgaria. In short, the country is turning from a source of high skilled labor, to one of unskilled labor, all because the education system has been paid very little attention to in the years following communism (in other words, for over 15 years).

The social problems in Bulgaria seem to have been masked by the country’s recent successes, getting into the European Union and NATO, its high GDP growth rate, the real estate boom, growth in tourism, etc. But the fact of the matter is, the country still has a lot of issues that it needs to deal with. When I was in Bulgaria this summer, for example, many people commented that, “In other countries, a mafia exists, in Bulgaria, the mafia has a country.” What the people mean is that once lawmakers get elected to Parliament, they immediately strike a deal with some mafia group or other and immediately forget about their electorate. Or, another version, is that the politicians are incompetent (“There is no more government in Bulgaria), leaving the people open to be exploited. For example, the country couldn’t put out its own forest fires over the summer, and had to ask Russia for help. Those are the pessimistic views in Bulgaria.

I’m a little on the more hopeful side. The people there seem to finally be aware of the simple truism that if you want your lot to get better, you have to work for it. And if your life is made miserable by the way that the state is set up, then perhaps the state should be changed in order to better the condition of daily life. The rector of the state university Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’ recently said “I don’t care about the financial instability of a state full of weak minded people. We want a country of spirit, a country of competence, in which young people would like to live.” The professor is completely correct, and I believe that the university should receive the 26 million euros it’s asking from the Bulgarian government as a subsidy to help keep its doors open.

Like I said before, it seems like the conditions in Bulgaria are improving. We’re finally seeing the broad resentment against the current status quo, which leaves the everyday person stuck on a measly salary, in a country where the state does not care about the individual. I hope that the state finally begins to work for Bulgarians, and not for a small group of greedy individuals.